LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur lost their final match of the season and missed out on a place in the Champions League after an outbreak of food poisoning ravaged their squad today.
Manager Martin Jol said 10 players, including first-teamers Michael Dawson, Edgar Davids, Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane and Teemu Tainio, were
struck down by food poisoning after a buffet meal at the team hotel in east London the night before the match.
However, all five played in the 2-1 defeat at West Ham United, a result which, coupled with Arsenal's 4-2 win over Wigan, meant Spurs missed out on fourth place and had to settle for a place in the UEFA Cup.
"I have never experienced anything like this in football before," Jol, who together with his assistant Chris Hughton was also affected by the food poisoning, told reporters.
"I don't want to blame our defeat on the circumstances and I do not think personally that there was any foul play involved.
"We would like to have postponed the match for one day but that was not really possible. West Ham are playing in the cup final next week, they didn't want to postpone the match and I completely understand that."
Premier League officials did offer Spurs a two-hour delay to the kickoff which they declined as it would have made little difference, Jol said. Police were not prepared to consider a delay of more than an hour, he added.
Clubs are obliged to fulfil their fixtures unless there are exceptional circumstances and can be docked points if they fail to do so.
Jol added that environmental health officers had been called to the team's hotel as a precaution and that police were investigating the incident.
"Dawson was very sick but played 90 minutes but Carrick couldn't go on," Jol said. Carrick was substituted after 64 minutes.
"One of the problems was they couldn't take food or any fluids.
"On the whole of course I am disappointed but we are fifth and in Europe with 65 points, which is an unbelievable amount for our team."
West Ham manager Alan Pardew said: "I sympathise with Tottenham who found themselves in a very difficult situation today but I think they would have found it very tough here today even if they had all been at their best.
"I did not want to play the match in midweek or at any other time because that would have severely damaged our preparation for the cup final."
- REUTERS
